Shovel Breakers Anonymous

Hi my name is John and I'm a shovel breaker. it's been 7 years since i broke my last handle......
I'm a larger sized fellow and sometimes i forget that i can put a bit too much force on things, so this last weekend while transplanting a couple oak trees i broke yet another handle, I'm kinda sad because it was an AM Leonard one. Any suggestions where i can find a titanium or at lease a slightly better than average heavy duty oak handle. It's a good thing i have spares, but this is getting ridiculous.

Hi John. My name is Doug and I'm a garden fork breaker. I always push them too hard when digging parsnips in dry clay. I have better tools like trenching shovels but I'm on a mission. I have two that need repair right now.

Hi, my name is Tina and I am a shovel breaker. It has been a year since I have broken a shovel. Instead of mending my ways (not using a shovel as a pry bar...) I quit buying expensive shovels and roll with buying new ones each year. The upside is that my guys don't get yelled at when they break one...because I. do. too! Lol

I've broken more than my fair share over the years.  IF and yes that's a capitol IF you can find a real Hickory handle you might like it better than Oak. Stronger and lighter than Oak.  Some folks still make their own.

larry kidd wrote:I've broken more than my fair share over the years.  IF and yes that's a capitol IF you can find a real Hickory handle you might like it better than Oak. Stronger and lighter than Oak.  Some folks still make their own.

Now, if I had to make my own shovel ... 1. I wouldn't share and 2. I would be easier on my shovel! Lol

I was about to dig into this subject, but I just could not handle it....

Go on amazon and look up heavy duty shovel, the $100+ one from Corona I think is legit. With those type of shovels you can quite literally use them as leverage bars to move boulders and not break them, now you will be able to work as hard as you want without having to baby your shovel, RIP all irrigation pipes though if you go ham with a shovel.

My name is John and I've broken many handles on spades, forks, grain scoops, and hoes.  

.....but it was never my fault.  Not the one that I left in the driveway under 2 feet of snow and sucked up into the snow blower.....nor the one that was stuck in the heavy clay and snapped when the tow strap wrapped around it held fast as I gunned the tractor.  These were all stochastic events of nature, far out of my control.

... :-)

my name is greg and am a serial bender of digging fork tines. it’s a rocky world out there.

My name is Wayne and it's been 20 years since i broke my last shovel...

i tried that Corona marvel some time ago.  technically, I didn't break.  I did try to make some kind of shovel origami sculpture with it though.

my answer was king of spades, alloy steel handle, i got mine from a.m. leonard.  part shovel, part axe, part pry bar.  i highly recommend the rubber pads to go with it.

I don't do much with shovels though I am a spade breaker.

You know those cheap dollar store spades.

I do have an old rusted one that just keeps going ...

I have a 5 pound (maybe exaggerated slightly) shovel head that DIGS baby! At least until you start to wonder why anyone would want to dig with such a heavy shovel. Or until your arms fall off. The handle couldn't keep up with that workhorse, but I pumped half a bottle of gorilla glue into the cracks. Then I spray painted the head silver.

THE SILVERBACK!


Also, the fiskars diggin fork has waaaay tougher tines than my old generic one.

Has anyone thought about buying a draw knife & making your own handles from Osage Orange wood? I'm not saying this wood is indestructible but, it's very close! I've broken my fair share of axe handles trying to chop it down.

Hi, I'm Tim. I am a chronic hammer handle breaker. I have to now purchase Estwings in various sizes because if it has a wooden handle it is broken. I don't particularly work them hard either.

My name is Jim and I break garden tool handles like toddlers break crayons. I'm not sure if it is the general state of cheapness in tools today or what. I doubt it, because I've been this way my whole life. I was in my 40s before I realized you could go to the hardware store and buy a new handle instead of buying a new tool.

My name is Greg and I’ve broken plenty of shovels and digging forks.

I’ve switched to all steel here with our rocky West Virginia soil. I use the AM Leonard all steel spade and the Corona full length shovel and they are seriously tough. I use an all steel digging fork from Amazon that isn’t nearly as tough but it works well enough even with bent tines. I haven’t seen a high quality one from AM Leonard yet but I would buy it if they made one.

The AM Leonard, and Corona steel tools are heavy. It’s been a while since I used a King of Spades, I think it was a little lighter weight but just as strong. I broke the Fiskars “Worlds Greatest Shovel” which really was great and was much lighter weight but also less strong.

Kobalt brand at Lowe’s has a pretty good broken shovel return policy, if you bring it back in broken you just go get a new one off the shelf. I asked an employee where the replacement handles were one day and he said they don’t sell them, just bring the broken shovel to the returns counter and they will replace it. I said that I had been using it professionally for landscaping and on a farm for 5 years and they said that doesn’t matter.

When you pick out, or make, a wooden handle make sure the growth rings are running in the direction (quartersawed) of the most force. With a shovel they should be visible from the top and bottom, with an axe they should be visible on the front and back of the handle, not the flat sides. I hope that makes sense. Mark Krawzyk’s book Coppice Agroforestry has a pretty good description of this with illustrations. I have looked through all of the options available on the shelf and just decided to wait to buy a tool another time because the grain was oriented wrong on all of them, both with shovels and the expensive Stihl brand axes at my local dealer. This is why I do not buy wooden tools from catalogs.  

AM Leonard and Forestry Suppliers have quality tools to choose from and you might check out your local hardware store, mine sells Corona and Fiskars and can special order any of their products. Also, the rubber foot pads from AM Leonard are great for those of us who don’t always wear thick boots.

Happy digging!

Tbh I'm shocked I didn't break a shovel last week going after some huge roots left behind from the invasive chinaberry tree I removed last autumn.

Jim Garlits wrote: I was in my 40s before I realized you could go to the hardware store and buy a new handle instead of buying a new tool.

Hey Jim. I find that new handles are massively expensive and seem to be made of balsa wood.

I scrounge old dead garden tools, not for the steel bits, but for the old dense-grained hardwood handles. A little work with an angle grinder or a cold chisel, and they go into my Inventory of Magnificent Hardwood Handles.

I'm pretty sure they'll be put to good use, soon enough.

Interesting in that I am still trying to figure out the preventive measures needed for them to survive.  

A.   1.  Start with green tight grained oak and split the handle out with a froe while still green so I can get the grain running perfectly down the handle.

    2. shape roughly to round while still green following the grain but a bit oversize to allow for shrink

    3.  dry the wood to really dry and then shape to size carefully fitting handle to shovel socket.  

    4.  drill a series of small holes in the shovel socket near the top edges and polish sharp edges off the holes.  Thread carbon fiber thru those holes in the front, and  in the back add loops to thread thru so the long fibers can go over grooves in the end of the shovel and be pulled up tight on the back and folded back over.

    5.  Now do an overlapping wrap of  spiral wound of fibers over that compressing the handle and anchoring the tension fibers that run over the end of the handle

    6. vacuum bag the entire shovel and infuse with epoxy to give a carbon fiber shell.
   
     7.  Then mix epoxy with the reflective glass powder in bright purple.  Ideal would be if the powder was glow in the dark besides.

Now the above list and the hundreds of hours of thought that has gone into it should in no way be taken as admission of my ever breaking a shovel handle.  

Greg Sherbert wrote:My name is Greg and I’ve broken plenty of shovels and digging forks.

Hey Greg. Good comments! Welcome aboard.

I have taken to replacing them with steel conduit used for top rails on chain link fence.  If I get a good fit in the tool shank they do not break or come loose.

Hi. My name is Arthur, and I have broken more shovels than I can count.  Its a little embarrassing, actually.  Shovels tend to live their last days in my hands.  And not just shovels, but other garden tools with long handles that offer leverage.  Pitch fork? Bent and crooked.  Garden hoe? Chipped metal at the ends from accidentally hitting rocks too hard.  

Im getting better, though.  Instead of outright breaking the handles I instead slow down and stop when i begin to hear the popping sounds of stress cracks. Instead of breaking the handles, they just get weaker and weaker over time, until eventually they turn into useless noodles, at which point I try to fix them with metal pipe. It kind of helps, but only for a short while until they do eventually irreparably break again.  

I cant bring myself to throw them away. The last remnants of whatever life is left in them still gets to fulfill their purposeful existence as dirt digging implements, albeit as hand tools picking up more dust and debris, rather than glorious scoops of rocks and cow turds. These weak and rusty shovels without handles now find themselves partnered with a broom that has a wobbly duck taped handle - also clinging to whatever life remains.  

I did finally find a shovel that has been able to 'handle' my abuse for the time being.  Its a smaller, shorter, and heavier one made from solid metal. Im really diggin this one..

Lee Valley used to have a life long, no questions asked,  warranty on some of their garden tools.

I often wonder if I'm the reason they stopped that.

Last time it went like this.
Guy.  There's no way you did this.  It could have survived a cement truck. This is an unbending shovel.
Me.  Um, maybe if the cement truck was empty.  A full cement truck does this to a shovel (gets out second, less damaged shovel that i shouldn't have lent to a friend).  But no, that first shovel is all me.  
Guy. Silence.
Me. So can I get a replacement?   Or possibly you have a stronger one?
Guy. Silence.
Me...um... you okay?

My name is James and I’ve broken spade, fork and axe handles, and the teeth of a 3 foot pry bar.

I paid lots of attention in maths, especially about levers moving the whole earth. It would have been nice if they followed up with the lesson about choosing the right lever.

Coincidentaly, tree stumps like to stay IN the ground.

My name is Alan and this year I broke three shovels, one of which belonged to my 3 year old. We were transplanting a red twig dogwood from the woods and I tried to show him how to step down on the shovel.

I fixed his shovel and I want to replace my shovel handles with saplings. I have many ash saplings on the property I could use.

Thank you. I'm sorry. I bought an extra strong shovel this year.

My name is Ara and I break shovels, spades and forks. It is 2 years since I broke my last fork. Mr Ara is not a shovel breaker so I make up for him.
When I had an allotment, my neighbour loaned me his dibber when I was planting leeks. I asked him what it had been before it was turned into a dibber. A garden fork he said. Yes, he was another shovel breaker. Like him, I now repurpose broken handles.

Hello my name is Cheryl and I too am a shovel breaker. The last shovel I broke was about 9 months ago and I am embarrassed to say that the head is currently garden art in my garden. I do however have plans to create a new handle because I really miss having two working shovels (so does hubs)

https://www.midatlanticbamboo.com/bamboo-spade/bamboo-spade.htm

Made for bamboo, but would work well for any rooty digging.  

One more option for shovel abusers…

https://www.bamboogarden.com/resource-pages/bamboo-digging-and-cutting-tools

While I agree that metal handled tools are much tougher, where's the soul? Hahahaha I hate metal handles but I do have some. Mostly as "leave in the yard" yard tools. Metal handles don't warp or swell in the rain, and sometimes I don't want to go get a shovel so I grab, ol' rusty for a quick chore.

Shout out Forestry Suppliers!

If I had Osage Orange I might give that a try, making a handle. Seems pretty hard though, no pun intended.

If anyone's patient and dedicated I have a challenge for them. An ancient Hawaiian technique for wooden weapons and tools was to submerge the wood in water pools high in sediment for a few months minimum, the minerals in the sediment end up filling the wood cells over time making a denser and much more durable piece of wood. How many shovels do you think you'd break in the 3 month minimum soaking time?

So we have r ranson to thank...sigh.  Lee Valley passed ownership down a generation and it has gone somewhat downhill since.

Why would one want an unbreakable shovel?  How else do you know when it's time to stop and break out a cold brew?  

Last year I got the first plantings in for a copse...perhaps in a few years I'll be able to offer oak and ash handles as a product....

my problem is bruce and I break shovels. god grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
the last shovel I bought and broke was from Home Depot it has red paint print on the handle and has lifetime guarantee so its the last shovel ill ever have to buy. I  broke one, returned it for a free new one, no receipt needed. and I broke the new one and it will get replaced next time I go to the city. maybe have to stop using it as a pry bar to wedge boulders out of the ground.
ive got a narrow trenching type shove with long straight handle made of fiberglass I think , dont remember where I got it but it is indestructible

r ranson wrote:  .......

Guy. Silence.
Me...um... you okay?

He likely was pondering a very old question, r.  Knowing that their most durable handles are impregnated with kryptonite, the issue of whether or not the world needs another Super(wo)man was weighing heavily on his conscience.

;-)

Some tell me it's because I wear a skirt that people are unprepared for the damage I can wreck.

To this, I say nonsense!   If someone came in a shop dressed like me carrying two earth crusted bent and broken stainless steel extra long shovels... I would think it's obvious this a good time to hide the breakables.

Hi shovel breakers!!  I only wish to add one thing: we have had a lot of shovels and a fork break over the decades, on the working end, not the handle.  My husband likes to stick a fork or a shovel into the ground/manure and leave it standing vertical...sometimes he doesn't come back for a while.  It gets rusty, then brittle, and there you go.

prevention: clean off and hang your implements!!! XD

As far as handles go, they are no longer hand made of solid Ash, and are usually from China.  

my name is bruce and I'm a shovel breaker. id like to share.
today I exchanged my broken razorback shovel with lifetime warranty for a brand new one with no questions asked and no receipt at Home Depot.  

r ranson wrote:Some tell me it's because I wear a skirt that people are unprepared for the damage I can wreck.

To this, I say nonsense!   If someone came in a shop dressed like me carrying two earth crusted bent and broken stainless steel extra long shovels... I would think it's obvious this a good time to hide the breakables.

yes have a knack at breaking things, once i took a craftsmen chainsaw back to sears and when they looked at the mangled mess in the box they were perplexed. i told them no it was not a warranty claim, that yes it bounced off the back of the tractor and went into the 7ft brush hog and made terrible noise. i just was bringing them parts in case some one else needed a jet screw or some other identifiable part for their saw. they laughed an put the mess in the spare parts bin. recycling used to be easier...

My name is Eric and it has been 20 years since I broke my last shovel handle and 25 years since I broke my last hammer handle (yes! You can break a hammer handle if you hit hard enough!).

Since then I have bought a couple of fiberglass handled shovels and they have stood the test of time and abuse.  And like Tim, I am now a devotee of Estwing hammer & hand axes.  I now have a nice collection of steel-forged hammers, mostly Estwing and they are incredibly durable.  The hand axes are equally durable and I have really put them through the paces, especially the 16” axe.

At this point I absolutely refuse to buy a cheaply made tool as I find few things more frustrating than trying to fix something only to have the tool needed for fixing itself needing fixing!

Go durable tools!

Eric

Today, Mr Ara was digging out a dead plant in our garden. First he found a rather rusty knife - the kind you would use to cut up your dinner. Then he found the remains of a garden fork without a handle. It looks as if the previous owner of our house was also a shovel breaker.